


The Mark of Anam

by crowdedangels



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Aliens Made Them Do It, F/M, Kinda, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-30
Updated: 2018-08-30
Packaged: 2019-07-04 12:39:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15841485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crowdedangels/pseuds/crowdedangels
Summary: He had been sceptical up until the moment he was told he couldn't be one.





	The Mark of Anam

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to London88 for having a read through and checking there were no glaring plot holes. I've tinkered since though, so may have added some... oopsie!
> 
> Thanks to TheCharacterComma for the inspiration.

"And to my shock," Jack grumbled as soon as the gate shut down, "Another planet of trees and moss. Whodathunk."  
  
Sam ducked her head to hide her smile while Daniel scanned the horizon for civilisation. Well, Jack wasn't exactly wrong; there were a lot of trees. "There's smoke. Smoke means fire. Fire means people."  
  
"Thank you, Confucius." Jack had seen the smoke as soon as he hit terra firma but he didn't want to point it out in case no one else saw and they could hightail it back home. He sighed, rested his hands on his P90 and ordered, "Teal'c, watch our six and keep Smokey the Bear under wraps."  
  
Teal'c gave his single nod, and the four set off towards the signs of a village. It looked to be about four klicks from the Stargate and Sam's instruments suggested the weather would remain fair with a good few hours of daylight left.   
  
Daniel's interest was further piqued by the Celtic knot monuments that peppered the route as they neared the village. While he spoke to Teal'c about Celtic mythology, Jack and Sam joked about what they would find there. "Maybe they'll all speak English."  
  
"With a Canadian twang."  
  
"Yeah, what's that about?"  
  
"Eh?"  
  
"What is so funny, O'Neill?"   
  
Jack looked back, recognising the specific eyebrow raise that meant _‘Please save me from Daniel's lessons’_. "Oh, just a general observation, big guy. Hey, Daniel, how do you say 'Take me to your leader' in Gaelic?"  
  
Whilst Daniel wanted to scoff at the thought, he spotted a teaching moment and bounded up so he was in step, "Well actually it depends if we're Scots Gaelic or Irish Gaelic. Did you hear how I pronounced that word different both times? That's because-"  
  
Jack leaned over slightly to Sam on his other side as Daniel continued, whispering " _Save yourself."_   
  
Sam smiled and fell back in step with Teal'c. He nodded, she smirked and they walked the rest of the way without words.   
  
\---  
  
There was a large, intricately carved stone near the opening of what could only be described as Main Street. It bore rune shapes and letters Daniel both did and didn't recognise.   
  
"I'm guessing... 'welcome'?" He surmised.   
  
"Or 'Do Not Enter. Big Dog on Patrol'," Jack offered.   
  
"Well possibly."  
  
A young woman appeared from the tree line at their side. She looked surprised to see but not afraid. "You have come by the Circle?" She tucked her  long dark hair behind her ear and she smoothed out the long, flowing dress that made her look like she glided more than walked.   
  
Daniel stepped forward, "We have. We are peaceful-"  
  
"You must meet Mhair Iselda!"   
  
"And that is...?" Jack added, looking between her and Daniel.   
  
"Our Elder. She has lived since the ancestors. She can tell you all you wish to know."  
  
"We would be honoured," Daniel said, slightly taken aback at how easy it was. "I am Daniel, this is Teal'c, Sam and Jack."  
  
"You are different..." She eyed Teal'c cautiously.   
  
"I am Jaffa. I mean you no harm and wish to learn from your culture only," he bowed in respect which she seemed to relieve her concerns.  
  
"I am Oona. You are welcome here, Teal'c."  
  
Oona lead them through the village, Daniel at her side like an excited puppy asking her questions with every breath. Jack, Sam and Teal'c walked behind, smiling to villagers and trying to look like the peaceful visitors their large guns belied.  
  
Most of the women dressed similarly to Oona, though they were looking at SG1 far more skeptical than their new guide was. Some young children were shoved behind skirts and back in doors, while some men puffed their chests and tried to make themselves look bigger. Jack gave a small salute and smile to the biggest of them, remembering which houses they were stood before.   
  
Oona seemed to be taking them towards a small circular stone building at the end of road. The other homes were made of the same some but were bigger, probably to fit more people considering how many kids seemed to be around.   
  
"Oona?" Sam asked from behind their guide, noticing an intriguing difference between this world and the last. "What is the tattoo everyone has?"   
  
She looked over her shoulder, "It is the Mark of Anam."  
  
"Anam...soulmate?" Daniel offered.   
  
She nodded, "It counts to when we will meet our beloved."  
  
"You're beloved? Wait, you have a moving tattoo that counts down to when you meet your soulmate?" Now Jack's interest was piqued.   
  
"You do not have this?"   
  
"We, er, leave that to chance in our culture." Daniel looked back to his team.  
  
"That is sad. We receive our Mark when we begin our changes to adulthood."  
  
"Puberty," Daniel offered.   
  
Jack had figured that one out himself, and his 'no shit' look made sure that Daniel knew. "And you just wait until the clock counts down?"   
  
"Most do. Some of our young now do not want the Mark or the beloved. You see, the Mark does not make promises, it will only tell you who that person is. It cannot promise you a long and happy marriage. There are some in our village who take the Mark as law and force their children to marry their Anam even if that will bring them great sorrow and hardship."  
  
"And you?"  
  
"I am excited to meet my Anam!"  
  
"How long do you have left?" Sam smiled.   
  
She looked to her mark on her wrist and blushed, "One more cycle."   
  
Jack smiled at the youngster's eagerness, catching Sam's eye who was equally enamoured with the girl.   
  
She lead them to the small stone building and knocked on the door. A voice sounded and Oona beckoned them through. "Mhair Iselda," Oona ducked her head in reverence to the elderly woman sat in the centre of the room. She was wearing flowing gowns of deep purples and blues, many necklaces and looked to be very advanced in years.   
  
Oona began to speak in a native language to the woman, gesturing to the team - particularly Teal'c - who all looked at Daniel expecting him to translate. He shrugged. He knew Gaelic, but their language wasn't that anymore.   
  
"Sit," Oona smiled, lowering herself to the floor around Iselda's chair. "I told Mhair Iselda about your visit and how you leave your Anam to chance. She has offered to show you your Mark."  
  
"Oh, I don't think-"   
  
"It would only show for the duration of your stay here. The further you travel from the village, the more it fades. I imagine where you are from is very far away."  
  
Jack scratched the back of his neck, "You could say that. Any takers?"   
  
They all looked sheepishly to each other, apart from Teal'c who seemed neither concerned nor interested.   
  
"Sure, um, I will," Sam offered, not wanting to seem disrespectful to their new friends but also somewhat concerned about what the procedure may show. What if it was Jack? What if it _wasn't_ Jack?   
  
"You sure, Carter? You don't need to do this."  
  
She shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant but she knew her eyes were wide and she was probably blushing at Jack's concerned gaze. "Doesn't mean anything. It's not like I'm getting engaged, it's just a temporary tattoo. Might be interesting?" She looked to Oona, "What do I do?"  
  
Oona reached out for Sam's hand and gently turned it so it was wrist up. "You are hurt?"   
  
"Oh, no. The last village we visited was not as friendly," she smiled. That was one way of explaining the bruise that blotched her skin in purples, greens and yellows. Being taken captive and bound by misogynist idiots - again - was another way.   
  
Iselda shuffled herself from her chair to the edge and hovered her hands over Sam's skin, closed her eyes and moved her lips as if in mumbled speech. Barely seconds had passed when Iselda sat back, looking happy, even smug.  
  
They all looked to Sam's wrist... and saw nothing. They could practically feel the excitement coming from Oona while they looked between themselves wondering what she could see that they couldn't. They looked back when Oona gave a yelp, "it shows!"  
  
They all saw as the faintest of marks began to form. It slowly darkened, like ink spreading from the touch of pen. It blended easily with her skin, a tan shade that she might colour to of she ever stopped slathering herself in sun block.   
  
"Does it hurt?" Jack asked.  
  
She shook her head, "I can't feel it."  
  
Oona began to frown and spoke to Iselda in their language again.   
  
Jack gestured to the pair, whispering "Daniel...?"   
  
He tried to listen to their conversation but their tongue had mostly evolved away from the Gaelic that he knew. He shrugged again, pushing his glasses up his nose and watching the two speak quickly and gesture to Sam.   
  
"Hey, _hey_!" Jack finally hollered, "What's going on here?"  
  
Oona sat back and tried to choose her words. "The Mark; It is like nothing I have seen before."   
  
They all looked to it again and Sam tried to swallow down the rising panic. What the hell had she just done? The Mark seemed to have stopped darkening but certainly wasn't as clear as anyone else's they had seen. It almost looked like it was two Marks over the top of each other. Like when a printer jams and retypes over the top of what it had already printed.   
  
"Mhair Iselda has seen it, however, and is concerned. She last saw it when..." she looked to her hands where they fidgeted on her lap, "When the Gods were here. When they tried to fool us and stay in hiding."  
  
"The Gods like Goa'uld?" Daniel asked.  
  
"Yes. Mhair Iselda alerted the ancestors to the Gods hiding in plain sight and the villagers killed them. Are you...?" She looked scared, as did Iselda who had Teal'c in a fiery gaze.   
  
"No! No, we are not Gods. And neither were they." Daniel tried to explain, "We have fought the Gods also, and killed them. Teal'c, he used to work for the Gods but he renounced their ways and has helped us kill more. Sam..." how did he say this?  
  
"I was blended with a Goa'uld but she died in order to save my life. It has changed my physiology - my blood - so I still carry some of the Goa'uld, but I am not one. We mean you no harm."  
  
Oona nodded slowly and began to translate back to Mhair Iselda.  
  
"You say it saved your life. Was it Tok'ra?"   
  
"Yes! Yes, exactly," Sam nodded, looking to Daniel to question how they knew of them.  
  
Oona talked to Iselda more, then turned back to the team looking more relaxed. "Mhair Iselda says you have had two Anam, this is why the Mark is different."  
  
"Jolinar and Martouf."  
  
"Mhair Iselda thinks she can separate them but this has not been done in a long time." She gestured for Sam's wrist again.  
  
She leant forward and offered her hand whilst Iselda shuffled forward and removed a necklace that bore large crystals of different colours. With her hands hovering over the Mark again, Oona wrapped the the necklace around the two of them and ducked her head as if in prayer.   
  
Jack's hand rested lightly on Sam's thigh, waiting for the slightest indication of pain to be able to stop this whole charade.   
  
It took longer this time but Iselda finally looked up and Oona removed the necklace, the Elder looking at Sam's wrist and exclaiming what they assumed was  their version of 'voila!'   
  
"It has worked!" Oona exclaimed. Sure enough, the mark had now separated into two distinct sets of numbers each with a secondary number in a smaller font and positioned in the upper right of the first number. Like a math to-the-power-of figure.  
  
Oona traced her finger across the first number, "I have never seen an Anam so large. You met this person 687 and 229 cycles ago."   
  
"Huh?" Jack questioned.   
  
"Cycles. Around the Suns."  
  
"Suns? Plural?"  
  
Oona nodded, now understanding. "We have two suns. We do three cycles around one and one around the other." She drew a figure of eight on the ground. "687 is how many cycles around the first sun, and the 229 is around the second."  
  
"Nine hundred and sixteen years," Jack mumbled, gaining looks from everyone in the room. "What?"  
  
"How did you-?" Daniel pushed his glasses further up his nose.   
  
Jack shrugged, "So that's Martouf."  
  
Sam nodded, her breath catching at what the next number may reveal.   
  
"The second number is much smaller. Two and two cycles."  
  
"Eight!" Daniel happily announced, having beaten Jack and worked it out all by himself. "Wait..."   
  
Sam eyes flicked to Jack. They had known each other four years.  
  
"You were expecting a different number."   
  
Sam looked back to Oona, feeling the flush rising on her cheeks. "No, no, not at all. I, er, didn't know what to expect." She swallowed and stared at the Mark. Jack's hand was still on her thought and the heat it was eliminating felt like a burn.   
  
Oona could sense the shift in the mood of the room. "You do not know who this Anam is?"  
  
"Eight years ago I was stationed in Germany for a while, um, in DC and San Diego. It was before the Stargate programme." Her face dropped with the realisation, "Jonas."  
  
" _Really_?" The simultaneous disbelief of two of her team was joined by an eyebrow raise of the other that said the same thing.  
  
She was in just as much shock. "We weren't engaged then but were together...?"   
  
"Jonas was not a nice man?" Oona asked quietly.  
  
"Not towards the end..."  
  
A bell began to ring outside, words hollered into the air and giving Oona a start. "It is nightfall, we must retire. I will show you to a free holding and bring you some food."  
  
Sam felt Jack's fingers slowly slide away from her thigh and she looked down as she felt the fiery trail. She could see disappointment in his eyes, though he was trying so hard to hide it. She imagined her eyes were doing the same.  
  
"That would be great, thank you," Daniel answered for them, scrambling to his feet to follow Oona, bidding thanks and goodnight to Iselda.  
  
Sam held her marked wrist on the short walk to the empty building, her thumb absently rubbing over the numbers. Jonas? Really? Maybe at one point she thought that, when it was still early and they were in the throes of new love and too early engagement. Before the jealousy, the distrust, the threats.   
  
So that was it? Jonas was her chance? Whoever came next wouldn't be her soulmate. Did that mean disappointment? Disatisfaction? A life alone? Is that why there had been no one of note since him? Why she had thrown herself into her work? But Jack-  
  
"-to Carter? Well, not Earth. P2F-R4D to Carter? You with us?"   
  
"Yes," she shook her head as if to scatter the thoughts. "Sorry, sir. What do you need?"   
  
"A fire."  
  
She looked around to see they had reached their holding, Oona had left and Teal'c and Daniel were rolling out their beds inside. "Yes, sir. On it."  
  
He kept a watchful eye on her, understanding why she seemed to be lost in her own mind. He was too. Oona returned with water and a selection of metal skewers, meats and vegetables - some recognisable, some not - and promised to return at first light.   
  
They sat down on the benches and slid the offerings onto their skewers and tried for small talk around the fire. Daniel, thankfully, took the majority of the talking by telling them of his observations so far, how the village was similar to accent Scottish civilisations, though the accent was strangely not Scottish when not speak Gaelic. If Jack or Sam had been paying full attention they might have laughed at the Canadian twang.  
  
He talked until he tired and until they had all eaten. Jack was on first watch, not that he had felt they were threatened in any way, but new village, new people, you never knew.   
  
Daniel and Teal'c moved into the building but Sam remained by the fire. "You should get some sleep. "  
  
She sighed, "Not sure I could if wanted to at the moment."  
  
He looked drown to his hands, held them up to the fire and rubbed them together.   
  
"I thought..."  
  
"I know."  
  
She bit her lips together and dragged her hand through her hair, leaning so her elbows dug into her knees. "Do you believe in soulmates?"  
  
Soulmates. Love at first sight. He thought back to when she walked into the briefing room on her first day - silhouetted in the doorway so he initially only noticed the long legs and hourglass figure. Then the blonde hair and blue eyes and smirk; then the sass and intelligence and fight.   
  
He believed in lust at first sight, that was for damn sure.   
  
But soulmates? One person on all of Earth that complemented your ideals, your desires? Hell, not just Earth now. The galaxy? The next one over? All the alternate universes? He had been sceptical up until the moment he was told he couldn't be one.   
  
"I don't know," he eventually answered and saw that wasn't what she had wanted to hear. "I think some coincidences are too difficult to believe its not fate - like being in the right place at the exact right time and only you can do something. Or when people die in those totally fluke ways and you think 'damn, there time was up'. But that would mean there's something or someone up there calling the shots and I've seen too much to believe that."  
  
She nodded ever so slightly, her eyes moving from the fire to his, "And the Za'tarc? Quantum mirror and all the universes?"   
  
He sighed, leaning forward to mirror her stance, "Hell if I know. Now."   
  
She was rubbing at the mark again, her eyes back to the fire.   
  
"Listen, don't question yourself about Jonas. He was a jackass and you did the right thing.”

She nodded. She knew that, hasn't questioned it up until about an hour ago. “Night, Sir.”

He wanted to reach out to her, touch her hand, bring her comfort. He wanted to kiss her and say ‘to hell with this voodoo malarkey, we’ll have a ‘one day’, we’ll show them’. Instead, he said, “Night, Carter.”

 

\---

 

Next morning, they were up and ready for the day, sipping coffee near the now extinguished fire. Sam hadn't slept well, Jack neither really, both had too many what-ifs rolling around. 

Oona appeared with a boy in tow at first light as promised. “Good morn,” she smiled, “Did you sleep well?” 

They all nodded regardless. 

“This is my brother Hame. He will be happy to show Daniel the village and the caves of the ancestors.”

Daniel had already swooped for his bag, “Yes! Please!”

Jack gave a nod to Teal'c who understood he was on Daniel duty today. 

“Sam, Jack, Mhair Iselda has asked for your company again.”

They looked to reach other and back to Oona, “Oh?” 

“You will come?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Excellent. Let us begin.”

Daniel and Teal'c set of with Hame, with Jack hollering “Radio in every hour!” He trusted Teal'c would have heard though Daniel was already asking Hame a barrage of questions. Jack and Sam fell into step with Oona back to the small building. Again she knocked and was granted entrance in their language. 

“Mhair Iselda wishes to see your mark again,” Oona announced, lowering herself to the floor. Sam dutifully held her wrist out to be cradled in the Elder’s hands, before the two locals conversed with each other. “She was correct. Your bruise has covered some of the mark. Once we are with our beloved, we gain a symbol here.” She gently tapped to where the bruise and Mark joined. 

“‘With’?” Jack asked, and the ensuing blush from Oona told him everything. “Ah.”

She gestured to the first number, “Here, this is the symbol.” A very faint infinity symbol could just be seen through the yellow of the bruise.

Erotic scenes flmemories flashed before Sam’s mind from Jolinar’s memories. 

“But here,” Oona continued, pointing to the next number, “there is no symbol. Your bruise has lightened just enough for a symbol to be visible.”

“So… not Jonas?”

“If you were with him, the symbol would be here.”

Any embarrassment she may have felt at discussing her sex life with an elderly lady, young woman and her CO was quashed by the relief that Jonas hadn’t been her soulmate. “Not Jonas.”

“So who then?” 

Sam didn’t have an answer to that one, but Oona looked like she may have. “Mhair Iselda would like to reveal your Mark.”

“Mine? Why?” 

Oona smiled, “Mhair Iselda says to trust.” 

He frowned slightly but did as requested, offering his wrist to Iselda’s waiting hands. She repeated the process she had done initially on Sam and sat back smiling.

“2 and 2!” Oona read excitedly.

“What?  _ Ah!”  _ He took back his wrist and began to blow on the Mark, the dark tan tattoo beginning to burn. Sam hissed as hers also started to sting, blowing cool breath across her wrist. “What the hell?”

“Anam!” Mhair Iselda exclaimed, her hands flung into the air.

Jack and Sam looked to her in confusion. “What?”

“The Mark alerts us when we have met our beloved. As you did not have the Mark 2 and 2 cycles ago, it has alerted you now.”

“But we didn’t know each other eight years ago,” Sam looked at Jack’s Mark and sure enough it read 2 and 2 like hers. 

“The Mark is not wrong.”

“But-”

“The Mark only tells us when we will meet them and alerts when we are near. It is not concerned with hows or whys.”

Jack and Sam were silent, each cradling their wrist and looking to each other in shocked confusion.

“Your holding is now empty. Perhaps you can discuss there. With each other,” the twinkle in Oona’s eye belied the innocence she exuded.

They collected their things, confusion still written on their faces as they left Iselda’s, forgetting to bid her thanks.

They said nothing until they got back to their holding, and still nothing as they relit the fire against the cool morning. The radio crackling to life on Jack’s hip was a welcome distraction. 

“ _ O’Neill _ .”

“Go ahead, Teal'c.”

“ _ We are in caves one klick south west, through the trees where we met Oona.” _

“Thanks, T. Daniel behaving?” 

“ _ He is most excited by the cave drawings from the ancestors.” _

“Make sure he doesn't get too excited. Come back before nightfall if not earlier. And keep checking in every hour.”

_ “I will, O’Neill.” _

Jack clicked the radio back into place and sat before the fire, retaking his spot from the night before. “So…”

“So.”

“I was with Sara eight years ago.”

“I was with Jonas. Ever been to Germany?” she tried to smile, to lighten the mood. 

“Many times, but not then. Anywa-” he cut himself off.

“What?”

He said “Nothing,” instead of ‘I would've remembered you.’

“San Diego? DC?” 

“It was eight years ago, Carter, I can barely remember what I did last week.” 

She smiled lightly. “This doesn't have to change anything. Instead of the room, we keep it on the planet. Daniel and Teal'c don't know, they still think it's Jonas and we can talk to Oona and Mhair Iselda.”

“You would be okay with that?”

“We have no choice.”

“That isn’t what I asked.”

“Jack…” her tone was warning and more than a little tired at the energy it took to keep everything at bay. 

He turned to her, curling his leg over so he half-straddled the bench. “I know this changes nothing for the Air Force, Sam, but it could change it for us. We know now. Before, we thought it was some kind of strange, dumb luck that the alternate universe versions of us are together but it's not. Apparently it’s fate.”

“And this is the right place, right time?” she didn't look convinced. 

“It's  _ a _ place and  _ a _ time. It's an empty place that's going to be free all day and the timing is never going to be right unless  _ we _ do something about it.” 

“What would we tell people? Daniel and Teal'c?” 

“You said yourself they still think it's Jonas and we can talk to Oona and Mary Zelda.”

“I’m not comfortable lying to the guys.”

“So we don’t,” he shrugged.

She stood up to pace, pacing seemed like a good idea, “Jack, there’s more to it than that.”

He reached for her fingers and she stopped. She didn't turn to him but she didn't wrench her hand away either. He stood and stepped behind her, wrapping her in his arms, his fingers splayed across her stomach. “Or,” he whispered into the skin where her shoulder and neck met, her eyes screwed shut, “We could leave something else on the planet. Not just a what if. A memory.”

He felt the shiver run over her. 

She turned in his arms, her nails digging into his forearm and his scalp as she slammed her lips to his. It was instantly fiery, passion and promise bubbling forth immediately. He cupped her cheeks and tilted her head, his tongue flicking against her top lip and then her teeth, the roof of her mouth. He swung his arm under hers so he could spread his fingers across her back, press her into him until their bodies were flush from knees to mouths, and yet they didn't feel close enough. 

She scraped her nails through his hair and his grip tightened, his kiss faltered, the hand on her cheek dipped so his thumb was beneath her chin, pushing until his lips could claim hers moreso. 

Her mind was swimming. They had come to the planet - this innocuous, simple, Earth- weathered planet - for the usual reasons and now her CO’s tongue was blessedly down her throat and her hands were dipping beneath his tee shirt. 

His skin was warm and soft under her wandering fingers, surging up his back and stripping the clothing from his arms. “We-we shouldn't-” she managed to say before his lips were back on hers and his tee shirt was in her hands. 

He stilled with a grunt, taking a deep breath to calm himself. 

“Out here, I mean,” she smiled, her fingers threading through the salt and pepper hairs of his chest.

He grunted again and crushed himself back into her, walking backwards a few steps before turning and guiding her to the doorway. 

She dragged her fingers down his back, her short nails scraping the length of his spine. 

They got as far as the wall near the door and Sam was pressed up against it, tilting her head so his wandering lips could kiss, suck, nibble a path down her jaw and neck, his hand palming her breast and the other smoothing up beneath her tee shirt. 

“ _ Jack, _ ” she moaned, his fingers flicking and pinching her hardened nipple through her clothing. “This isn't inside.”

He was apparently unconcerned because he continued his ministrations against her pulse point and her breast, his long fingers stretching out around her hip and squeezing, pulling her into in. 

She smiled but ducked her hands between their bodies, grabbed his belt buckle in one and pushed him away with the other. “ _ Inside. _ ”

He looked down to where she was tugging on his belt and leading him into the holding. “Oh, inside? Why didn't you say?” 

She shook her head with a grin, pulling him towards their bed rolls. He got to work on the way, pulling the hem of her shirt and having her turn when they got to their destination so he could free her of it and toss it to the floor.

“Where were we?” he asked, licking his lips at the newly exposed black sports bra and creamy pale skin. 

She picked up his hands and replaced them on her hip and breast, stepping back into him so she could reclaim his lips. “Ah yes,” he murmured, kissing her smile.

Her hands returned to his belt and unhooked it this time, spreading it open and setting to work on the buttons and zip while his fingers dipped beneath the bands of her bra and swept across the undersides of her breasts. 

He stepped out of his trousers and helped her out of her bra, not realising she was also shimmying her trousers down her legs. Did he undo them? He had no clue but certainly wasn't complaining.

He fixed his lips to her nipple, his hand massaging the other breast while she held him to her with both hands, his name on her breath. They lowered to the floor, Sam lying back while Jack’s mouth continued lower on her body, his fingers curling into the waistband of her plain, black underwear and stripping them from her long legs. 

He kissed a path back up, opening her thighs with his shoulders and licking along the length of her slit. He did it again but dipped inside, collecting the moisture at her opening and spreading it across her clit with a flat tongue. 

He saw her surge up, her back arching as she took her breasts in her hands and the noisy waterproof sleeping bag they were on crinkled loudly at the movement. Well, that was sight, sound and taste forever ingrained into his mind that was going to be murder whenever anyone innocently rolled over in one of these bags in the future. 

He groaned at the senses and flicked the tip off his tongue over the bud, sucking it between his teeth and flicking again. 

“Oh  _ fu- _ Jack…”

Her hand was in his hair again, directing him to where she wanted him while she palmed her breast and brought her leg over his shoulder. 

If he died right now every single red blooded male, female or whatever would understand. 

He slung an arm over her hips to keep her still and pressed into his erection, loosely thrusting into his hand to release pressure because, God, he didn't want this to end. Ever. 

He swirled his tongue again, lapped at her clit with the broadside and his name was being urgently panted from above, the fingers in his hair dragging him from where he was happy to stay. 

She kissed him, long and slow, licking at her taste in his mouth. Her arm encircled his head, fingers playing in his hair while she helped him off with his shorts with both get and a free hand. 

She grasped him as soon as he was free, sliding her hand along the length, swirling around the impressive girth and sweeping across the head. It was a skilled hand and his face fell between her breasts, losing himself in the sensations. 

He planted his hands either side of her chest, fastened his lips to hers and felt as she guided him to her entrance. They swallowed each others gasp as he slowly thrust through her hand and into her. Her knees fell open, stretching her opening around him in a way she knew she would feel later. 

“ _ Sam… _ ”

“Oh god Jack…”

He kept his thrusts slow at first for his own sake. This was  _ Carter, _ the lust-at-first-sight one and the same, who had grown to be so much more than that. Dangerously so. But he could hear her whimpers, the press of her fingers into his skin asking,  _ pleading _ for more and by god he would do anything and everything to see her satisfied.

He quickened his pace, giving an extra thrust as he bottomed out within her, before pulling back and repeating until her breasts bounced within her hands and her lip was caught between her teeth.

He said her name, committing it and her to his memory because  _ fuck  _ if this wasn’t the hottest thing to happen to him in goddamn years. 

He felt the tremble of her muscles around him, her legs coming up to encase him within her thighs, her fingers seeking out his face to pull his lips to hers. 

It was more the meeting of mouths than a kiss, breaths swallowed, names whispered,  _ more, yes, close, oh God, I- _

He fed his hand between them and sought out her clit again, his fingers repeating the pattern of his tongue until her legs began to shake, his name eeked out with a high pitched groan, her muscles clenching around him, her back arching off the bedroll and her chest no longer rising with breaths. 

Her inner muscles squeezed him almost painfully but the pleasure that rolled through him at the sight and feel had him thrusting into her one last time before he too came.   _ Hard _ .

He collapsed onto her, her fingers dancing along his skin as he caught his breath. She kissed the top of his head and he rolled out and off her, turning to face each other. She smiled into a lazy, languorous kiss, swinging her leg over his, not ready to lose contact. 

He was about to say something when the radio cracked and Teal'c’s voice entered into the room. Sam covered herself as a knee-jerk reaction while Jack scrambled to his feet and searched for wherever his clothing had been flung.

_ “Colonel O’Neill.”  _ Teal'c’s voice was more insistent at the lack of response. 

“Polo…” Jack murmured, finding everything but his radio. “Aha! Teal’c, buddy, I'm here.”

“ _ You are okay, O’Neill _ ?”

He turned to wear Sam was feeding herself back into her bra and smirking at his buck naked confidence. “Very okay, T. The okayest.”

“ _ Very well. There is no change here though there seems to be a storm on the horizon.” _

He looked out his window and could only see blue sky. _ “ _ Keep an eye on it and let me know if it progresses and we should bail.”

“ _ Indeed.” _

Jack tossed the radio back to his pile of clothing as Sam was fastening her trousers. “DC!”

“Excuse me?” she laughed.

“General Halling retired. He had a thing.”

“Yes! He was Jonas’ CO at one point.”

“I can't believe you were there.”

She stepped up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, “I can't believe we just did that.”

He smiled into a kiss, his hands wandering around her mostly clothed body again. She pulled away to look at her wrist and sure enough the infinity symbol was near Jack’s number. He checked his Mark and he had it too. 

“We should get dressed,” he frowned.

“I am,” she laughed, swooping for her tee shirt, “ _ You  _ need to get dressed.”

He put his hands on his hips and looked down, “I guess.” He caught the underwear she flung at him.

When he was dressed and the room was checked for evidence, they sat back on the benches outside, stoking the fire back to life. “So…”

“So.”

“Do we leave that on the planet?”

“I don’t know if I can…” the confidence fell away before his eyes to fear and concern.

“Me neither,” he turned her face so he could kiss her, imbue that confidence back into her. “We’ll figure it out. Me and you.”  
  
  



End file.
